Unlimited access >

Expanding the home search - would you prefer to build the home or the horse facilities?

This has been our experience. While we didn’t build the house we did build a custom barn, fencing etc.; when we sold the place, the barn and fencing were pretty much a freebie for the new buyer. To add to that we had to put in a barn and fencing in at the place we moved to, there wasn’t the money for another custom barn so had to make do with something much less then what we had, so double whammy.

We bought location location location, with a quirky (but newish and very well-built) house, and no horse facilities - but it did have a large, safely high-fenced area that the original owners used for vegetable gardening on a major scale, which we could employ as a temporary paddock while putting in what we needed for the horses. Some of the land was already suitable for decent native grass pasture, too.

We perimeter fenced, cross-fenced, cleared land, and put in an outdoor arena all within the first few months, then waited a couple years to decide exactly where we wanted to place the barn and permanent sacrifice paddock. We put in a MD barn - modular and metal - which wouldn’t be that difficult to modify for a different use.

Paid cash for everything. Had already figured out the payback time required, as compared to our previous boarding costs (did a conservative estimate, and came out ahead much faster in reality).

Had an appraiser visit a couple of years in, before building the barn; he said that the fencing was a desirable feature in our area and would always be worth something. As for our barn, we think that a future owner can use it for boat or RV storage (popular around here), or as a workshop (ditto). It’s not worthless.

The appraiser also mentioned that a good rule of thumb was to assume that a lot of improvements (indoors and out) are only worth, upon resale, about 25 to 50% of their cost – that for 100%, buyers would rather have new and exactly what they desire – so our payback calculations kept that in mind. In our climate (usually mild winters), and with the high initial cost and probable poor return, we never seriously considered erecting an indoor arena.

We’re okay with that, as we’ve now been here for over twenty years, broke even on the horse facility expenses long ago, and live in an area that has appreciated in value a great deal.

2 Likes

I bought the house with land and built the barn after I’d gotten a better feel for the property itself.

But… I wasn’t looking at a big barn build - my fencing cost about as much as the barn (36x40 pole barn) and I don’t think this is my “final destination” home-wise. So my house is a little weird (though it sits me and my lifestyle quite well). Would I love to have a custom home, designed to my exact specifications? Sure, but I spent years planning my perfect-for-me little barn - I honestly haven’t given my “perfect home” that kind of consideration.

Not sure how helpful that was for you, since your situation and needs are obviously much different than mine. One good piece of advice I was given was to buy the “land” because unlike the house, barn and fixtures, “they aren’t making any more of that”.

1 Like

I think it depends A LOT on what you want/need for “horse facilities”. If you are thinking that you need a 100 X 400 indoor arena with chandeliers and polished oak everywhere, and barns with stalls to match, comfortable tack room for boarders to meet and greet, and suite for employees to live, you are best to look for that and buy the equine facilities you want because it is very expensive to build, and do some renos to the existing house to make it suit you.

But if you want to keep your horses more “natural”, turned out in paddocks and fields with a run in shed and a cheaper ring to ride in, you can build this cheaper and build it to suit what you feel is best for your horses’ health and happiness, and for your use. And if so, the house is the more important issue.

When we built this place (from nothing), I was tired of barns and stalls, and hours of stall mucking, and sawdust for horses to poop on and throw away, and buy more sawdust, and horses being kept separately, and “high management”. So we didn’t do that. Far cheaper to make these changes than to build what we had before (barns with stalls and paddocks attached), and horses live together, turned out 24/7. But it’s not for everyone, depends on what you want to do on your farm. Any boarders we have had are kept separate from my horses, but still on full turnout (my horses would punish and kill and intruder coming into their family group).

4 Likes

The appraiser also mentioned that a good rule of thumb was to assume that a lot of improvements (indoors and out) are only worth, upon resale, about 25 to 50% of their cost – that for 100%

depends upon how the building was built.

Our main barn was built as a duel purpose building. Primary is Barn but was built to be converted to a hobby garage. The building is clear span with the perimeter post being spaced to allow installation of overhead doors, flooring is pavestone pavers.

When we had it appraised its value as a Hobby Garage was twice the value of a Barn.

3 Likes

I’ll be the voice of dissent here…

If budget is not an issue and you find a property with a house you can live with and the right land but no horse facilities, buy it. If you’re like me, you’re way more concerned with the horse amenities than the house. :smile: I bought a house in March 2020 and have been working on retrofitting the barn and fencing ever since. I STILL don’t have a tack/feed room or grooming/wash stall, and the barn will never be what I really want (stalls are 10x10 and 10x20, for instance, due to the size/structure of the existing builing, and let’s not talk about the fact that the barn is on a hill, so all the stall floors are sloped, even after bringing in an entire dump truck of rock to build up the base…). The next place I buy WILL be built from scratch if at all possible, at least as far as the horse amenities are concerned. The house? Eh. I once rented a house where the front door would slam open every time the wind blew hard, even if it was locked. I lived. Lol.

5 Likes

My thought is buy the property first. You can build a barn or house any way you want it but you are stuck if the property is unsuitable. And buy pasture land. Clearing is expensive and you lose topsoil and you can’t just clear and dump horses on the pasture. My property is in the boondocks but it was hayfields when I bought it. Not fancy hay - just cow hay but
was growing grass which is pretty indestructible. If we are in a drought situation everything else out here may die but you can’t kill this grass.

After I got expensive perimeter fence up I built the barn. I had been planning barns for YEARS and had pretty much decided at that point what I wanted. I looked at nice barns, got ideas of costs and decided what I could afford. I DID NOT want to buy a place with a barn on it. All the little barns built around here are closed up, low ceiling structures that are HOT in the summer. I spent too many summers sweating like a pig cleaning stalls in hot barns. This barn was going to be open, airy, and cool in the summer. I wish I could have afforded insulation in the ceiling but that is the only thing I would change about it. The cost to finance it was going to be pretty bad with the interest rates available at the time. So I proposed a deal with my parents - they got a better rate of return with their money than they would otherwise and I got a better interest rate.

When the barn was paid off I built my house and said goodbye to the trailer I was living in. This progression served my purposes fine. I had some ideas about what I wanted in my house but I did not spend nearly as much time researching them like I did my barn. I did end up overbuilding my house so that it would be worth more than the rest of the property but I am hitting the end of my mortgage now so I am happy with it. I would not do things differently. I hope I never have to sell and I just die here. HAHAHA!!!

4 Likes

Before you buy raw land, or a place without a house on it, find out what utilities you need to get installed, and how much that will cost. For example, don’t take anyone’s word but the utility, or cable company, etc. on if they serve the location. Don’t take anyone else’s word for zoning either. If you need high speed internet, or other services confirm that they will run the cable to your home, and how much it costs. For cell service, try it at the location.

Also, if you will have to put in septic, do your own perk test. I don’t believe anyone else’s results on that. If you have to add other utilities, (phone lines, cable lines, water, sewer) find out what the hook ups will cost, and how much to get the utilities to the house and barn.

9 Likes

Yes to this! I had paved road, city water and garbage pickup here. And electricity and septic tank on site due to prior owner living in a trailer here. I was too dumb to appreciate that but now I know how good that stuff is. I do not have cable and cell service really sucked for a while. I did have to haul a bunch of metal panels and junk to the landfill but I had a truck to do it with. This is rural Alabama so you can build just about anything here, not that I wanted to build something dangerous. No zoning so you better buy enough land to insulate yourself if needed.

3 Likes

Also, while you are at the county (or city, whatever jurisdiction) checking on zoning, also ask whether there are any pending rezoning cases in the vicinity, e.g. to create subdivisions etc. Those usually start with rezoning.

2 Likes

We have gotten offers on our property over the years: it seems quite a few barns in the area have been sold without ever making it on the market. It might be worth your while to talk to area vets and/or farriers, and see what might be out there to your liking that isn’t actively for sale.

2 Likes

subdivisions etc. Those usually start with rezoning.

a final step before you purchase check the property deed for restrictions in the deed.

A really unlikely problem, but a local developer purchased a block of lots (eight acres) thinking they would redevelop into townhouses … even got through the city approval process, got the building permits Then was made aware of the embedded deed restrictions prohibiting subdivision on any lot in this area of the city.

There are one hundred properties in this block, to remove the deed restrictions takes 60% of the owners to release the restriction… The developer was already on poor standing with the locals since he and his buddies at city hall were ramming this through much to the objection of the citizens that would be living next to this project.

So, Mr Developer has the land but can not get any of the other owners to approve his development plans.

We did and are continuing to contact the city to make sure he maintains the land he purchased and can not develop as he wanted.

Long story, be nice to your neighbors

3 Likes

Twice I’ve bought the property I’ve liked with a house and then built barn, fencing, added waterers.

Honestly I don’t really care about the house as long as it is livable with two bathrooms. The barn in the other hand im super picky about.

I want large stalls, and it set up so my husband and I can manage as we get older. Everything is senior focused so we can take care of it. Most barns aren’t set up with the idea that one or two elderly people might be caring for the horses.

Plus a barn can be put up in days to weeks instead of months. So we could live on the property while getting the work done.

Barns do cost money, but you can do it in stages. First house we did the barn with no electricity or water. In a few years added a hydrant. Later added electricity in the barn and eventually auto waterers over a 15 year span.

This place we did it all from the start using the money that came from the first house sale.

I absolutely love our place and it is worth having to build the barn. Interesting enough properties similar to what we bought already setup for horses were going over 100k more than what we bought. We spent far less than 100k adding what we wanted.

3 Likes

Not quite horse related, but this can be true of many places. The county I moved to is infamous for making building expansion difficult. Check (thru local contractors perhaps) which counties are going to make you regret ever considering them, and which might be more builder friendly.

If it were me, I valued the horse stuff more than the house, so I went with a property that had a house and built the horse stuff to suit. I can live with a suboptimal house (and did, for 20 years). But you or your spouse might not want to compromise in that direction.

3 Likes

I’m currently in a 150 year old trappers cottage that is on the property I board at. No AC, drafty doors/windows, dirt floor basement, no dishwasher, no garbage disposal, no garage haha. It also sits on a bad spot on the road for winter snow and people get stuck all the time. I’ve loved living here this last year!

It is however, not quite suitable for my SO and I comfortably with the layout. As such, we just bought a townhouse in town that is a little bigger but has a much better layout and still close to the barn. We could be McMansion owners if we wanted but share the same opinions on cleaning…and on yard work/landscaping! Both take a lot of precious time that I would rather spend riding. We also hope to retire early and are content to live much smaller than many of our peers.

I bought a house in decent shape, needing mostly cosmetic rehab, on 5ac of corn/bean fields leased to a farmer.
Of the places I’d seen with barns, all required too much extensive refitting to suit my needs.
Deteriorating fencing, too small and/or crappy stalls, etc. Or ill-planned layout.

This was my experience 17yrs ago when I had to apply for 2 variances (height & total sf) for the 60X120 indoor attached to my 36X36 pole barn.
Barn required only the building permit.
Per procedure, letters were sent to neighbors within a radius & they were advised of the date the Planning Commission would meet to review my request(s), so they could voice any concerns.
Before the actual hearing one neighbor stopped to ask which way my indoor would face, concerned about their view.
Odd, as their house was set way back, kittycorner, on a corner lot across from mine. Any “view” would have been of my house - corner bordered by full grown evergreens - & fields & then only if they drove past.
They did not attend the hearing.
Another neighbor, who did, was concerned the size of the building meant I planned to house more than the permitted number of horses.
Board member asked & I verified only the permitted 2 horses would be there.

Considering the cost of building materials & labor currently, I’d do the same today.

1 Like

recently went through this for another reason but found out the city’s Standard for measurement of the distance of who is to be informed is from the center of the lot…which meant no one was to be informed in my case since the distance used from my lot’s center did not exceed my lot’s boundaries … so much for big city rules and regulations

1 Like

:astonished:
Either you have vast holding (Pa Cartwright?), or your Zoning has a much smaller radius for informing public.
IIRC, letters went out to all within a 5mi area surrounding my farm.

1 Like

200 feet… they really do not like sending all those notices… an average lot in the city would have about forty notices required

A lot behind us requested a variance, notices were sent but we did not get one since we were outside the 200 foot radius … when I attended the meeting I questioned why they used the center of the lot as the point of measurement… with a point that no would be notified if I were request a variance using the center of lot as point of calculation. When I was on P&Z in ths same city the distance was measured from the lot’s edges

3 Likes

I’m 9 years in on a buy of 20 acres w an old house to gut and the plan to build a barn and we did it but…how much money, free time and experience do you have?

Have you built/renovated before?

The beauty of building is you do get what you design but wow does it feel like being on Survivor!

1 Like